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Sunday 24 June 2012

Engemoen Four-in-Five Pack Challenge (TM), Epilogue

So after yesterday's round of projectile vomiting, I'm going to pass on yoga today. Instead I'm going to hit the home gym and try to give myself a heck of a workout. This way, if I start to feel lousy again, I can just stop and I'll already be at home. Four yoga classes in 5 days was a long way from my intended 6-in-a-row, but I'll try that again when my schedule permits.

Once work slows down a bit (mid August) I should be able to do all the yoga I can handle, so for now I'll keep going when I can and see how it goes. Thanks for reading and I'll post another update when I start another "Engemoen Challenge".

D

Saturday 23 June 2012

Engemoen Five-In-Six-Pack Challenge (TM), Day 5

Day 5

8:00 AM Class - Bikram Yoga Garrison (90 min)

Teacher - James

It was tough to convince myself to go to class this morning as I wasn't feeling that great. Something interesting happened last night; I got really, really drunk on wine. Now, that's not the first time that's ever happened, but it is the first time it happened on not all that much wine. My body was clearly rebelling against something. Anyway, I managed to drag myself to class, realizing that it was probably not going to be my best effort.

It was one of the best yoga classes I've ever had.

Our bodies are funny aren't they?  My balance, which is abhorrent even for a tubby guy at the best of times, was better than usual. I was able to get almost all the way into standing head to knee pose, and had no trouble getting fully into fixed-firm pose either. I still wasn't feeling great, but I was able to have a terrific class.

Then the fun started. I started to feel a bit nauseous on the way home, and not long after I was home, I puked my guts out. Really, really bad.

After it was over, and I mean almost IMMEDIATELY after it was over, I felt better. I was starving so I had some breakfast, and felt much better.

Oh, I hopped on the scale just before I had breakfast, and I hit another all-time low. If only I could throw up more I'd be so much lighter :-)

Friday 22 June 2012

Yoga thing, part 4

Well,  I made it halfway.

The "yoga thing" ended today, for two reasons. One, work got in the way of the morning class, and two, I'm an idiot and forgot that they didn't feature an 8 PM class on Fridays. So that ends that.

I will go tomorrow morning and depending on my schedule, I'll see if I can fit in two classes tomorrow so that I still do 6 classes in 6 days, even if it's not 6 days in a row.

Damn.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Day 3 of yoga thing

So it turns out my attempt to trademark the catchy "Engemoen Six Pack Challenge" failed; apparently a distant cousin had a thing with his abs or something way back when......so I'm just going to call it the yoga thing until I come up with a new, improved, catchier title.

Day 3

4:30 PM Class - Westcoast Hot Yoga White Rock (60 min)

Teacher: Mike

My favorite class; 1 hour hot yoga. Today's class took "hot" to a whole new level. Mike actually stopped class for a minute to check the thermostat as even he was finding it ridiculously hot. At least it wasn't my imagination. Before the class even started, I was sweating like the pig that knows he's dinner.

I love the one hour classes for two main reasons: one, I feel like I'm getting a much better workout in these 1-hr classes than I do in 90 minutes of Bikram's; two, even Bikram class is exactly the same, and I like the variety. Every one hour hot class is different from the last one.

My yoga has improved so much since I've been doing it, I'm nowhere near as tired as I was when I first started. I guess that goes without saying (but I said it anyway, so live with it). I'm not sure I'm less tired today than I was when this "yoga thing" started, but it's only been three days....

No knee problems today, although we didn't do the "fixed firm" pose we did one quite similar so that's a good sign. Hopefully it won't bother me when I go back to Bikram tomorrow.

I hit another weight loss milestone this morning, weighing in at under 219 pounds for the first time (OK I was probably under 219 when I was six). I often wonder where it ends; I'm a big guy, I'm never going to be "skinny" or anything close to that, but I am fascinated by the question of exactly how small I will be able to get? At my heaviest, 285 lbs, I was wearing XXXL shirts. Today I am comfortable in size L. I suspect I may get to M, but I can't imagine ever being any smaller than that. Me in a size SMALL? There's just no way. Is there? Doesn't seem feasable.

Halfway there.......before I post tomorrow's blog I have to make a point of coming up with a new catchy title......



Wednesday 20 June 2012

Engemoen Six Pack Challenge (TM), Day 2.....

Woo-hoo, I'm already 1/3 of the way!!!

6:00 PM Class, Bikram Yoga Chilliwack (90 mins)

Teacher: Leslie

Trying to think of something more interesting to say than "same as yesterday"....but it was pretty much the same as yesterday. Knee a bit better but I still took "fixed firm" a little easy, shoulder still better but not quite 100%.

Leslie did pay me a nice compliment today, asking me what I was doing to lose weight as it was very noticeable that I've lost quite a bit of weight since they bought the studio, which was only a month ago! My scale doesn't quite agree with that, but it's nice to hear. I guess I'm doing something right.

I hate this pose:


This isn't even the full expression of the pose.....after this, she is supposed to put her head right down to her knee. My big problem isn't so much this part of the pose, it's just getting my damn foot up. It's not a flexibility issue with me, I've been blessed with pretty good flexibility for a big guy, I think it's just a size issue. My huge leg rams into my huge chest, making it particulaly difficult to get my not-particularly-long arms under my foot (see the larger woman to the back and right of the main woman in this picture....that's pretty much me, other than the "woman" part).

Tomorrow if I can make it work in my schedule, I'm going to stop at my old studio in White Rock on the way home.

Wasn't really expecting today to feel much different than yesterday, but I'm quite curious to see if day 4, 5 and 6 feel and different. Stay tuned!

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Begin the Six Pack Challenge

Much respect to those of you who have done 30-day (or longer) "yoga challenges"....30 straight days of yoga??

.....


......

Sorry just thinking about that made me pass out for a minute. Where was I?.....

Oh yeah, today I have begun my own yoga challenge; since I would like to actually complete this goal, I'm setting a reasonable goal.....so here goes the Engemoen Six Pack Challenge!! That's right, SIX straight days of yoga!

I've been doing yoga for a couple years now but I've never done six days in a row. I did do eight classes in a seven day period once, but there were a couple days off in there....and if memory serves, I couldn't move for about a week after that.

I joined the Bikram studio in Chilliwack a few months ago; I must confess, I really didn't like the Bikram style much at first, but now.....ah who am I kidding, I'm still not crazy about it.... but it's definitely the best studio in Chilliwack so, to quote the great philosopher, Todd Bertuzzi, "it is what it is". I much prefer my old studio but it's in White Rock, and with my job ending in the not-too-distant-future, I need to make sure that I have access to a convenient studio, so I made the change. I'll get used to it. I'm committed to dropping in to the old studio from time to time when it's convenient.

Let the Engemoen Six Pack Challenge (TM) begin!!

Day 1 - 5 PM class, Bikram Yoga Garrison

Teacher - Leslie

Leslie is one of the new owners of the studio and she is very nice. She's also really fat. OK that's not fair, she has a reason to be, she is 5-6 months pregnant. Since Bikram teachers don't really show you the poses unless there is a brand new person in the class anyway, it really doesn't matter that she's unable to do some of the poses.

Today's class is pretty standard. I've been having a real problem with my left shoulder for months, but it is finally getting close to being 100%. I'm still careful with it but it's not bothering me too much. However, I have recently developed a bit of pain in my left knee which is a bit concerning. It only flares up in one pose; "fixed-firm pose", but I have to be pretty careful in that one today. It starts to hurt a bit early in the pose so I take it easy and don't even try to go all the way in that one. No biggie.

Otherwise, it's a good class, nothing too noteworthy. Same old, same old. We'll see if I'm still feeling like that at the end of the Engemoen Six Pack Challenge (TM) nears!!